Philip Clarke

The Hudl smartphone will debut later this year, Phil Clarke has said

Tesco is extending its Hudl brand with the launch of an own-label smartphone by the end of the year, CEO Philip Clarke said today.

The phone will reportedly run Google’s Android operating system, which is also the basis of its successful 7-inch Hudl tablet. Clarke told BBC 5 Live’s Wake up to Money programme this morning the Hudl smartphone would be preloaded with Tesco services.

“It’s going to come loaded with the Tesco services: Blinkbox, the trilogy of music, movies and books, which is just launched; grocery home shopping; Tesco Direct; F&F clothing; and our bank account – our current account launches in June or July. That’ll be on a smartphone too,” he said.

Clarke confirmed the Hudl 2 would launch in September, one year after the debut of the first version of the £119 tablet, which has sold 550,000 units to date.

In a wide-ranging interview, Clarke insisted he wanted to stay in the top job for a “few more years”.

“I’m 54. I’ve been at it 40 years. I think normally in Britain, people like me retire at 60. That gives me six years,” Clarke said.

“I’m not planning on going anywhere in the next few years. I’m very focussed now on bringing new Tesco to every neighbourhood of the UK in the next three years.”

Clarke defined ‘new Tesco’ as a store in which its range is “appropriate to its catchment”, and where new products stood out. He said the retailer would refurbish 650 stores this year, describing the “fundamental” refreshes as “new space, new departments – a rebirth of a store”.

Addressing the supermarket ‘price war’, Clarke suggested price cuts unveiled by Morrisons last week were simply a reaction to cuts Tesco had announced in February.

And on the recent departures of high-profile Tesco executives, including finance boss Laurie McIlwee, Clarke said: “When you get a leadership change, it’s inevitable that people are going to want to think about what that means for themselves.”